"To be nobody-but-myself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to
make me everybody else - means to fight the hardest battle which any human being
can fight, and never stop fighting."
(e. e. cummings)

Friday, November 19, 2004

Quest for the Cache

"Good Lord, I believe I have found the Chamber of the Sun!" cried Lady Rosemont. "Quick, help me! There must be a hidden entrance in this wall... somewhere..." For the first time in months, she cursed her calloused fingers. Having long since lost the softness her fingers had always enjoyed back in England, she willed herself to feel every detail no matter how small along the smooth stone.

"Milady, I beg of you to leave it be," Akbar said, the smoky light from his torch flickering over his worried expression. "The risks, they are too great. The ancient ones told of a terrible curse that would befall any who dare to disturb the treasure."

"The ancient ones are long gone, Akbar, and we have come too far. This treasure shall be mine. All mine!"

Now, imagine this scene taking place earlier tonight. Make the following changes and you will get a pretty good idea of how it went:

Change 19th Century Egypt to 21st Century American Northwest
Change the British accents to New York
Change Chamber of the Sun to a small tupperware lock box, cleverly disguised with faux greenery and hidden in a local park
Change far to a couple of blocks away
Change flickering torch to brand new GPS
Change ancient ones to geocacher
Change terrible curse to logbook to sign

Of course, the treasure was real and so was the quest. In our first foray into geocaching, we had to solve several puzzles in order to locate the treasure box. When we found it, we signed the log, took something from the treasure box (a small figure of The Brain from Pinky & The Brain) and added something to the collection of treasure for the next person.